Willow.



, 110.759,362. PATBNTBD MAY 1o, 1994..

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WILLOW.

APPLIOATIO FILED ma. 14, 1902.

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' PATENTED MAY 10, 1904.

W. FRANCIS.

WILLOW.

- APPLIoA'rIoN FILED un. 14. 1902.

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UNITED STATES Patented May 10, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM FRANCIS, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR OF THREE-FIFTHSTO FRANCIS MORTON, FRANCIS SCHOMMER, ANI) THOMAS MORROW, OF MANAYUNK,PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

WILLOW..

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 759,362, dated May lO,1904.

'Application mea March 14, 1902.

To all whom t may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM FRANCIS, aciti- -zen of the United States,residing at No. 535 Hermitage street, Roxborough, Philadelphia, StatexofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inWillows, of which the following is a specification, reference being-hadtherein to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to improvements in the machine technically known asa willow, in which certain gearing and mechanical movements operate toautomatically feed the willow with ber or other material to be beaten,opened up, and cleaned and to automatically discharge same when cleaned,the object of my invention being to improve said feeding and dischargingmechanism by providing better and more economical mechanical movementsfor said feed and discharge mechanism. This objectI attain in the mannerhereinafter set forth, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,in which-- Figure l is a longitudinal section of the willow. Fig. 2 is aside elevation of same. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the feed mechanism.Fig. 4 is a detail view of the feed mechanism.

The machine known as a willow consists of a casing a, having appropriatebearings for a transverse shaft a', upon which is mounted a drum a2,consisting, usually, of a series of hollow arms with projecting teeth a3at their outer ends, the drum being rotated and the teeth a3 of the samecooperating with certain fixed teeth and perforated or slotted segmentalscreens a5 and a operate to open or loosen up, beat, and remove thedustor dirt from the masses of ber subjected to the action of the machine.With the machine are usually combined an exhaust-fan a pair offeed-rolls c c', a conveyer-belt CZ for carrying the masses of uncleanedliber to the feed-rolls, and a pivoted discharge-door f at the bottom ofthe machine, through which the cleaned and separated masses of fiber-aredischarged. The shaft a has the usual driving-pulley as and the pulley bfor receiving the belt b2 to drive the fan It also has the pulley c2 toreceive the belt c3 to drive the pulley c4, which Serial No. 98,213. (Nomodel.)

isfree to revolve on the stud c5, Figs. 3 and 4, and has secured to itshub the gear c, which is in gear with the gear c7 of the shaft cs.- Thestud 'c5 is secured in the slot 09 of the stand 01 and is adjustable topermit gears of different diameter being substituted for the gears c andc7 to vary the number of revolutions of the shaft cS for each revolutionof the shaft a. The shaft o8 has suitable journals which are secured tothe casing a and carries the bevel-gear c3", which is in gear with asimilar bevel-gear o, securedA to the worm cl2, which is mounted. in thejournals elf c, The worm cl2 is in mesh with the worm-wheel 015,l,secured to the hub of the disk 016. The disk 01 revolves on the stud017, secured to the casing a, and has a segmental rack c on its rim. Itis also provided with a projecting pin 01 on its outer face. Thesegmental rack on the disk ci moves in a clockwise direction and .meshesinto the pinion 020, secured to the shaft of the lower feed-roll c. Thestated direction of movement of the rotating rack acts to hold thefeed-rolls firmly in their bearings and reduces jarring and frictionandWholly obviates breakage of the gear-teeth. On the opposite end of theshaft of the feed-roll c is secured the gear 021, which is in gear witha similar gear 622, secured to the shaft of the upper feed-roll c. Tothe shaft of the lower feedroll c is secured the gear o23, vwhich is ingear with the follower-gear 024, mounted on a suitablestud secured tothe casing. The followergear c2* is in gear with the gear d', secured tothe driving-shaft of the conveyer-belt CZ.

The discharge-door f is secured to the shaft f and is held in the closedposition by the weight f2. The sprocket-wheel f3 is mounted on and freeto revolve on the stud f4, secured to the casing of machine.Theqsprocket-wheel f5 is secured to shaft f and is connected bysprocket-chain f6 with sprocket-wheel f3, Sprocket-wheelf3 is providedwith the arm f7, which is provided with shoe f 1 to make contact withthe projecting pin c1 on the disk o16.

7L is a relief-valve to admit air into the willow to supply fan when thedischarge-door f is open and liber is being discharged. It is connectedby the chain f with the arm fm, secured to the sprocket-wheel f5, whichis secured to the shaft f of the dischargedoor f., said relief-valve /tbeing opened simultaneously with discharge-door f.

In the operation of the machine, the discharge-door f being held in theclosed position by the weight f2 and the relief-valve L being closed, aquantity of liber is placed on the conveyer-belt CZ. The worm cl2, beingrotated through the medium of the pulley 0*, gears c and c7, shaft cs,and bevel-gears c3 and c, revolves the worm-wheel cli and disk el in thedirection of the arrow, Fig. 2. The'segmental rack c1S on the disk o16rotates the pinion 020 and the lower feed-roll c in the direction of thearrow, Fig. 2. This motion being downward causes the lower feedroll tovrest firmly in its journals, preventing its raising up and getting outof gear, as in other machines of this class. The gears 021 022 on theopposite ends of the feed-rolls rotate the Lipper feed-roll and the gear023 on the shaft of the lower feed-roll @through the medium of theidler-gear 0%, and the gear d moves the feed-belt d, carrying the fiberplaced thereon to the feed-rolls to be fed into the willow-and broughtinto contact with the revolving teeth as and stationary teeth to bebeaten, opened up, and cleaned, the coarse dirt falling through thescreen a5 to be removed through the door am, the fine dust or dirt beingdrawn through the fine screen d by the fan I). The segmental rack c isof such length-as to revolve the feed-rolls a sufiicient length of timeto introduceinto the machine sulicient fiber for a charge. After thesegmental rack has ceased to revolve the feed-rolls the pin el, which isplaced at a point in the rearl of the segmental rack to allow suicienttime for the ber fed into the machine to be thoroughly treated, makescontact with the shoe f1 on the upper end of the arm f7, attached to thesprocket-wheel f, causing same to revolve on stud f* and by means ofsprocketchain f imparting motion to sprocket-wheel f5, secured toshaftf, opening discharge-door j', allowing treated fiber to bedischarged. At the same time the chain L/ of the relief-valve 7L, beingconnected to arm f 12, is drawn down, opening relief-valve L, ad-

mitting air to the anb to allow a free discharge or' dust, &c. The shoef1 is of suBcient length to hold the discharge-door open until thetreated ber is discharged. The operation is completed in one revolutionof the disk om, the time of each revolution being Varied by a change ofthe gears c7 and 0S to suit the material being treated.

Vhat I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is# v Thecombination of a willow having' a discharge-door, a suction-ian, a valvefor admitting air to the casing to supply said-fan, and means forsimultaneously opening the discharge-door and valve, said meanscomprising a worm, a shaft, a Worm-wheel on said shaft in position toengage the worm, a disk on said shaft provided with a projecting pin, astud, a sprocket-wheel thereon provided with a shoe disposed in the pathof said pin, a shaft carrying the discharge-door, and means formaintaining said door closed, a sprocketwheel on said last-mentionedshaft, a chain connecting said sprocket-wheels, an arm on saidlast-mentioned shaft,` and a flexible connection between said arm andvalve, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I aiix my signature in presence of the witnesses.WILLIAM FRANCIS.

Witnesses:

CHAs. F. VAN HoRN, HOMER PARsoNs, HRPNER VAN HORN.

